January Update from New Leaf

We work with trees to ensure the safety and beauty of landscapes, improve property, and promote the well-being of the environment. Our practice is governed by principles of safety and integrity. We are committed to fostering a culture of inclusiveness and respect within our crew as well as in the community.

How to know when an ash tree is infected?

What can be done to avoid the decline of ash trees?

Sadly, if an ash tree has lost more than 30% of its canopy, it has likely entered on a swift path of decline, and removal is the best course of action. Delaying removal can allow the tree to become more brittle and potentially more dangerous. For those ash trees that do not yet show signs of the emerald ash borer, the only effective preventative measure involves pesticide application.

You can visit our website to book an appointment for assessment of your ash trees, or you can fill out our estimate form here if your tree is in need of removal.

Josh Wood joined New Leaf in September of 2021 assisting our aerial workers and operating our ground equipment.

Josh comes to New Leaf after having spent the last decade educating kids and adults in the ways of the wood, as well as stewarding the land for a local nonprofit. He lives with his wife and two kids in Canaan NY. When he is not working he likes to explore the Adirondacks in his canoe.

This winter, Josh is teaching a wilderness tracking program! Participants will have the opportunity to see the tracks and signs of most of the mammalian residents of this area written in the snow covered landscape. Find more information here!

GYPSY MOTHS (Lymantria dispar)

What kind of harm do gypsy moths cause?
Gypsy moth caterpillars partially or entirely strip trees of their leaves. They prefer oaks, especially white and chestnut. But they will also eat alder, aspen, basswood, birch, hawthorn, and willow trees. When a tree is weakened due to the loss of its leaves, it becomes more vulnerable to other problems.

What do the egg masses look like?
Gypsy moth egg masses are fuzzy, tan in color, and range from dime-size to larger than a quarter. The egg masses are laid individually or in large clumps.

Finding egg masses
Gypsy moths hide their egg masses in dark, protected areas. They are often found on tree trunks and branches, under window sills, in doorways, underneath outdoor furniture and tables, on brick or rock walls, under gutters – just about anywhere.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

While it is not practical to find and manually destroy all egg masses, scraping/discarding some egg masses on valued trees can go a long way. Each egg mass from a gypsy moth can contain anywhere between 50 and 1,500 eggs of caterpillars, so removal can be a good way to eliminate a few of these messy caterpillars in your landscape.

Tips for egg mass removal
• Slide the blade of a knife or paint scraper under the egg mass, lift the mass off, and dispose of it.
• Egg masses should be destroyed by soaking them in a bucket of warm, soapy water overnight. Leaving them on the ground after removal does not destroy the eggs, which will then hatch in the spring.

OUR PROPOSITION

The tree band is a solution that we are offering for protection of feature / valued trees in your landscape. Tree bands represent a non-poisonous approach to effectively trapping and killing a list of insects capable of defoliating full-grown trees.

Benefits of tree bands:
• Effective non-chemical barriers to climbing and crawling insects.
• Easy to install and remove.
• Effective against bugs yet harmless to the touch.
• Tree bands do not stain bark or otherwise affect tree health.
• The particular tree band we are recommending has a reduced likelihood of catching and trapping birds and other animals.
• Effective against spring and fall cankerworm, forest tent caterpillar larvae, gypsy moth larvae, ants, and most other crawling insects. Some states have started experimenting with the entrapment of spotted lanternflies.

If you are interested in engaging us to install tree bands on your property, please reach out to us via email with the heading "Tree Band Inquiry". Please include the quantity of trees to protect (one band per tree) and the circumference of the tree(s) at height of about 4 feet.

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SPOTTED LANTERNFLY (Chinese blistering cicada)

What kind of harm do spotted lanternflies cause?
The spotted lanternfly causes serious damage including oozing sap, wilting, leaf curling, and dieback in trees, vines, crops, and many other types of plants.

What do spotted lanternfly eggs look like?
The size of the mass can vary, but a spotted lanternfly egg mass is typically about an inch long by 3/4 of an inch wide and looks like a light grayish splotch of mud or mortar/cement. Some surfaces can contain multiple egg masses. Egg masses contain 30 to 50 eggs.

• Research has shown that 80% to 90% of egg masses on trees are found 10 feet or higher above the ground.

• Freshly laid egg masses have a light gray mud-like covering.

• Older egg masses change in color to a light tan resembling cracked mud.

• Hatched egg masses lose the mud-like covering, exposing individual eggs that look similar to seeds.

• Scrape egg masses into a plastic zippered bag filled with hand sanitizer, then zip the bag shut and dispose of it properly.

• Inspect trees, bricks, stone, and other smooth surfaces for egg masses.

Below are examples of what you can look for when it comes to spotted lanternfly egg masses.

When road-salt spray lands on evergreen foliage, it can result in chlorotic and browned needles the following spring. Damage can be subtle and is often attributed to other causes. On deciduous trees, salt-spray deposition causes twig dieback, stunting, deformed growth, and bud mortality. Another less apparent harm in urban areas is road-salt infiltration into the root zones of trees when snow is plowed onto lawns where trees are present.

Conventional road salt (sodium chloride) can damage soil structure, causing what is known as sodium compaction. Sodium compaction restricts the access to air for tree roots, and that can in turn cause tree stress. High sodium levels lessen a tree's ability to take up potassium, a key macronutrient in the soil. Abundant salt in the soil can kill a tree. This injury typically shows up as brown, scorched-looking leaf margins in July, a time when de-icing salt is the last thing on our minds.

While it was once thought that rain can wash away most of the remnants of salt, we now know that this is seldom the case. Salinity can build over the years in soils that are exposed to de-icing salt.

What can a homeowner do?

Consider burlapping around certain evergreens to deflect road-salt spray. Burlapping can also act as a barrier toward deer-browse in the winter. Switching from conventional road salt to an alternative product such as calcium magnesium acetate (CMA) would cause much less toxicity to plants, though it can be more costly. Other alternatives include switching to sand or a salt/sand mixture.

Steps that can be taken to ward off salt damage to trees
If you shovel or plow snow that has been in contact with road salt, do not leave snow piles near your plants. If you can, pile the snow elsewhere. If there is nowhere else to put snow, wash it with water as soon as temperatures rise in order to dilute its salt concentration.

Tree Care Industry Association recommends taking the following measures:
• Avoid the use of de-icing salt unless necessary.
• If you use salt, mix it with abrasives such as sand, cinders, and ash.
• Use de-icing alternatives such as calcium chloride and calcium magnesium acetate (CMA).
• Improve drainage of soils. Depending on your soil type, add organic matter such as composted wood chips or bark mulch, and thoroughly leach salt residues from the soil by flushing with water.
• Erect barriers between pavement and plants.
• Plant trees in locations away from any type of salt spray.